Mohun Bagan Super Giant rallied to beat Mohammedan Sporting 3-2 on the final matchday of the Calcutta Football League (CFL) Premier Division championship round at the Barasat Stadium on Saturday.
Bagan thus regained the local league title after eight years. They had won in 2018. This was Bagan’s 31st league title overall.
In the championship round, each of the six teams plays three matches. Bagan finished with seven points.
East Bengal, who routed Coal India Sports Promotion Association 7-0 at home, came second with five points.
Trailing 1-2 and down to 10 men after goalkeeper Deeprobhat Ghosh was red-carded in the 59th minute, Bagan staged a dramatic second-half comeback.
India midfielder Sahal Abdul Samad inspired the turnaround, netting a brace with headers in the 26th and 70th minutes.
After Mohammedan Sporting had surged ahead through Lalremsanga Fanai (42nd) and Mahitosh Roy’s 63rd-minute penalty, young forward Sayan Banerjee, who played the previous two seasons for East Bengal, sealed the historic triumph by scoring the winner in the 74th minute.
The victory sparked wild celebrations among the Bagan supporters.
“It’s my job to score goals. I haven’t scored for so long. I was able to score in a difficult time,” said an elated 23-year-old Banerjee.
“We were behind. But I didn’t look at the result, I focused on scoring goals.”
On dealing with the pressure of moving to Bagan, he said: “This is my professional life. This is how we have to move forward. The goal is to play better and get a place in the national team.”
Hailing their team effort, Sahal said: “It’s always nice to win. But winning a trophy is a different feeling. It’s the result of the hard work of the whole team and support staff. There is no personal achievement here.”
Unbeaten East Bengal
East Bengal ended their campaign as the only unbeaten team in the Premier Division.
They logged nine wins and five draws across the group stage and championship round.
Aakash Hemram scored a hat-trick, Bijay Murmu netted a brace, and Mohammed Bilal, Tanmay Das and Uttam Hansda struck one apiece against Coal India on Saturday. Hemram (10 goals) finished as the joint top scorer with Sreenath M of United Sports Club.
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